From: Giffard, Sue <SGiffard_at_ecfs.org>
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:01:08 -0500

Jonathan wrote:

One of my biggest pet peeves are reviewers who think they must point out some negative, some failing in the book, lest their peers think them completely devoid of critical faculties. The truth, however, is that when you only have so many words and you throw something critical

in, just for the sake of being critical, then it throws the balance of

the review off. You may have only found 5% of the book to be unsatisfactory, for example, but 30% of your review addresses those points. The same thing happens when you write

Olgy wrote:

This is such a good point you're making here, Jonathan. When we review titles to the CCF site, we instinctively I avoid pointing out some negative just for the sake of pointint it out. Your explanation, and the way you clearly describe it by using the percentages, makes real good sense to me.

I review for SLJ, and I think that one of the difficulties of balancing negative and positive points with an eye to percentages in a review of approximately 250 words is that being fair and balanced in one's criticisms often takes more words. As a reviewer I like to try to make clear my reasoning behind the criticism, so that review readers can use their own judgment. As a reader of reviews, I tend to focus on the words used rather than the amount of relative space given in the review to the reviewer's positive vs. negative statements.

Sue Giffard Ethical Culture School New York, NY 10023 sgiffard_at_ecfs.org (212)712-6292

"Perhaps the only victory available
 the victory of the heart over its own inclinations for despair, revenge and hatred." (Leonard Cohen, September 24, 2009)
Received on Sat 14 Nov 2009 12:01:08 PM CST